Disability Advocacy Project: A review of the work of the All Decisions Project 2006 – 2008

Charity Registration No. 221124 | Photograph modelled for The Children’s Society © | Georgie Scott

Catherine McCarthy

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The Children’s Society is a leading children’s charity committed to making childhood better for all children in the UK. We take action to prevent, rescue and support children facing violence, neglect, poverty and discrimination in their daily lives. We give children the hope and confidence they need to face the future with optimism. We never turn away.

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Contents

Contents................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements................................................................................................ iv Further information................................................................................................. iv Background …………………….…………………………………………………………………...1 Advocacy Provision for Disabled Children and Young People................................1 The Disability Advocacy Project..............................................................................2 The evaluation ........................................................................................................2 Aims…………… ......................................................................................................4 Methods ..................................................................................................................4 Key Achievements ..................................................................................................6 Overall ................................................................................................................... 7 The resources .........................................................................................................7 Consultations with Disabled Young People ............................................................8 Additional Feedback from Disabled Children and Young People......................... 10 Feedback from Professionals................................................................................12 Lessons Learnt .....................................................................................................15 Respondents were asked what the major outcomes of the project were. Feedback is summarised below: .......................................................................................... 17 Future recommendations ..................................................................................... 17 References............................................................................................................20

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the team at the Disability Advocacy Project and the Tower Project for their help and support in providing data and participating in the review. Thanks also to Anita Franklin for writing the background literature review section of the report.

Further information

For any queries regarding the work undertaken by the All Decisions project please contact:

Parul Begum Disability Advocacy Project Unit 2/ 51 Derby St London E2 6HQ Telephone: 020 7613 2886 Email: pyb@childsoc.org.uk

For any queries of further information relating to this report, or the research programme in general, please contact:

The Research Unit The Children’s Society Edward Rudolf House Margery Street London WC1X 0JL Telephone: 020 7841 4400 Email: research@childrenssociety.org.uk

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1Background Advocacy Provision for Disabled Children and Young People

All children and young people have the right to have their views, wishes and feelings taken into account when decisions are made about their lives. This is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (Article 12) and in the Children Act 1989, as well as more recent policies including, The Human Rights Act (1998) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). A central theme of the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services in England is consultation and involvement of children. Standard 8 for disabled children and those with complex health needs states:

“Professionals should ensure that disabled children, especially children with high communication needs, are not excluded from decision-making processes. In particular, professionals should consider the needs of children who rely on communication equipment or who use non-verbal communication such as sign language” (Department of Health/Department for Education and Skills 2004, p29).

Despite policies and guidance supporting the participation of disabled children and young people in decision-making, research indicates that their participation lags behind non-disabled peers (Morris 1998, 1999; Sinclair and Franklin, 2000; Sinclair, 2004; Department of Health/Department for Education and Skills, 2004; Cavet and Sloper, 2004; Franklin and Sloper, 2007, 2008; UK Children’s Commissioner, 2008). In particular, disabled children with communication impairments and those placed away from home are identified as two groups with limited opportunities to be involved in decision-making (Abbott, Morris and Ward, 2000; Stuart and Barnes, 2004). Research has also shown that many professionals do not feel able to facilitate disabled young people’s participation (Marchant and Jones, 2003) nor have the necessary skills to facilitate participation (UK Children’s Commissioner, 2008).

The recent UK Children’s Commissioners’ report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (2008) highlights the continuing barriers to participation, particularly for disabled children and young people who are non-verbal or

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have other communication difficulties. Recommendations include that UK government departments ensure that children in need of communication support aids have access to this equipment and that training and support is provided to families and professionals to use a range of communication aids. Advocacy is a key way to facilitate disabled children and young people’s involvement in decision-making. In The Children's Society research report (2007) “When will we be heard?” advocacy is defined as: “Advocacy that is provided on a one-to-one basis to assist a child or young person to express their views, wishes and feelings to inform decisions about their lives. It may be to increase their involvement in small as well as big decisions, and it may occur in an informal or a formal context.”

The Disability Advocacy Project

The All Decisions project was a research and development project based at the Disability Advocacy Project. The project received a three-year grant for £192,500 for the period of 2006-2009 from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). The overall aims of the project were to enhance advocacy provision and involvement in decision-making amongst disabled children and young people. The project had a number of interrelated aims to improve disabled young people’s involvement in decision-making. These included:

Conducting surveys and consultations with local authorities in London in 2006/2007 to assess current involvement of disabled young people in decision-making processes.

Developing accessible information resources in 2007 with disabled young people to help them express their views, wishes and feelings and develop an awareness of their rights.

Developing resources and training in 2007/2008 to promote good practice among professionals and to ensure disabled young people with non-verbal communication needs have the opportunity to participate.

Consulting with disabled young people, local authorities and advocacy providers to propose and develop a new model of advocacy services for disabled young people across London boroughs by 2009.

These aims were further articulated through a set of indicators and associated targets against which the project reviewed its progress. Indicators included:

Disabled young people participate in decision-making processes about their placements.

Disabled young people feel empowered and confident to participate in decisions that affect their future.

Disabled young people are aware of their right to access an advocate and can access an advocate if they wish to.

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Disabled young people return to placements within their authority and are happy with their placement.

Increased capacity of advocacy practitioners, key workers, and Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) to work with disabled children and young people with communication impairments.

Advocacy providers and local authorities/Children’s Trusts across London are collaborating to ensure that disabled young people are involved in decisions about their placements.

Learning from the pan London pilot will have been shared across English regions and where appropriate replicated to ensure disabled young people are involved in decisions about their placements.

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2The evaluation Aims

The evaluation had a number of aims: To document the key achievements of the All Decisions project. To explore the impact of the All Decisions project on professional

practice. To explore the impact of the All Decisions project on disabled children

and young people’s decision making. To identify learning to enable Disability Advocacy Project to improve

future practice.

Methods

The Children's Society applies a realist evaluation methodology to assess the impact of project’s work on outcomes for children and young people. This methodology recognises that all projects will work best in particular situations or contexts and with particular groups of young people. It therefore aims to go beyond the simple question of ‘What works?’ and to answer the question ‘What works with which young people in which contexts?’ Broadly applying this methodology, the evaluation had a number of key components:

Brief questionnaires to obtain feedback from internal staff on key achievements and learning from the project.

A scoping exercise to determine the availability of statistics on disabled children and young people placed out of borough in London.

Brief questionnaires and/or telephone interviews with external professionals.

In-depth consultations with disabled young people to introduce the young person’s guides and assess their usefulness to young people’s decision making.

Collating monitoring data collected throughout the life of the project, including training and events feedback forms from professionals; feedback from young people on the production of resources; website feedback and summarising annual progress reports produced for DCSF.

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It was essential that sound monitoring systems were in place as evaluation occurred in the last few months of the programme but aimed to capture learning over a three-year period.

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3The Findings Key Achievements

This section collates annual progress reports submitted to DCSF as part of funding requirements. It also critiques the project’s capacity to meet its original aims and objectives as measured against a number of set indicators. Year 1 Major achievements during this period included:

Survey of London Disabled Children’s Teams. Consultations with disabled young people and professionals which

informed the development of resources for these groups. Networking activities to build sector capacity. Development and piloting of training programme. Increase in requests for spot service advocacy.

Year 2 Major achievements:

Development of 1,000 My Life, My Decisions, My Choices young people and professional guides. Development of guides informed from in-depth consultations with a group of disabled young people.

Distribution of over 500 copies of guides to agencies working with disabled children and young people.

Support provided to Disabled Children’s Teams in London to apply learning from guides.

Development and launch of the Disability Toolkit website in February 2008. Event attended by over 50 agencies.

Training provided to over 100 professionals on communicating with disabled children and young people.

Year 3 (up to December 2008) Major achievements

All of the guides distributed. Exploring approaches to advocacy (November 2008 consultation

event) has progressed plans to develop a list of skilled advocates, and

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develop an advocacy model, which includes visiting advocacy and reciprocal arrangements.

Agenda for Action training programme finalised and rolled out across three London boroughs. The project worked with The Children's Society PACT project to deliver this training at a national level.

Best practice guides, including How to Consult with Disabled Young People developed and available from Disability Toolkit.

Funding of £410,000 secured for national participation project in partnership with Shared Care and PACT. Funding secures future of Disability Toolkit.

Overall

The All Decisions project has broadly met its key aims and objectives. The project has produced a number of resources for the sector and for

disabled young people themselves. These resources have been distributed across London and feedback has been very positive, particularly towards young people’s guides, Disability Toolkit (website) and the training programme.

The project had a number of ambitious aims and had to revise these over time, particularly longer term outcomes which fell outside the shortened timeline available for project delivery.

It is important that learning is not lost and the recent award of additional funding will ensure the continuation of the project’s work.

The resources

A key output of the programme was the production of the My Life, My Decisions, My Choice Young People’s Learning Resources, which provides guidance and tools for disabled children and young people on decision-making and rights. The resources were developed in consultation with disabled young people, leading to the production of 1,000 posters and postcards. Nearly all of these have been distributed (959 posters and 970 postcards had been distributed by October 2008). Distribution occurred in a number of ways, including:

Visits to London local authorities including Disabled Children’s Team and Independent Reviewing Officers.

Via The Children's Society’s 16 projects working with disabled young people.

Directly to all service users at the Disability Advocacy Project (nearly 100 children and young people).

Requests from professionals. Directly from children and young people groups at MENCAP and the

National Deaf Children’s Society. Conferences/workshops/training programmes. Downloaded from the Disability Toolkit website.

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Consultations with Disabled Young People

It was important to obtain in-depth feedback and explore how the resources can make a difference to the decision making of disabled young people. Therefore, a group of young people were recruited to participate in consultations to introduce and explore the potential of the resources. The aims of the consultations were:

To find out what young people think about the poster and resource cards.

To find out what choices young people make and how they are involved in making decisions about their own lives.

The Senior Research and Development Worker from the All Decisions project coordinated and ran the sessions with assistance from an Advocate from the Disability Advocacy Project and the Researcher leading on the evaluation. Generally, evaluation activities are not conducted by staff working on a piece of work but as the young people recruited to this activity did not have an existing relationship with the project nor necessarily relate the guidance to facilitators, it was felt it was appropriate for All Decisions project staff to be involved due to their expertise in consulting with disabled children and young people. A group of young people were recruited from the Tower Project, a day centre in Tower Hamlets, which works with disabled young people and adults. Five sessions were conducted during July to September 2008 with young people aged between 22-25 years old with a range of learning and physical disabilities. All sessions were conducted at the Tower Project. The Senior Research and Development Worker produced an overview of the sessions and much of this is reported here. This overview is not only useful to document process but also for other practitioners to think about ways that they can introduce the resources into their work with disabled children and young people. The information from this section has been developed into a How to Guide, which is available from the Disability Toolkit website. Each session started with a game to build rapport amongst the group. “The sun shines on” was a particular favourite amongst the participants. At the end of each session feeling faces stickers were used to evaluate the different activities done during the session. As informed consent is an ongoing process, at the end of each session the group discussed what would happen at the next session and what young people would be asked to do (supported by a symbol based information sheet) so they could chose whether or not they wanted to continue attending. The composition of the group was somewhat different at each session but most participants attended multiple sessions. Non-attendance occurred because of prior commitments or health complaints rather than an unwillingness or lack of enthusiasm to attend. Session 1: Graffiti Wall The group created a large graffiti wall, which was used to display participants likes and dislikes. The activity was a good introductory activity, which allowed

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facilitators to find out more about the young people and begin to ask to what extent their likes and dislikes affected everyday decisions about their lives. Session 2: About me guides Each young person was provided with a template to create an ‘About Me’ guide. The About Me guides aim to help young people when meeting new people including professionals that are involved in decisions about their lives. The About Me explains important information about their life and choices including likes and dislikes, daily routines, future aspirations and any other information they want to tell people. The young people completed their guides using writing, drawing, computers, photos, arts and crafts. The paper template was laminated and bound together (worksheets completed in later sessions were also added to their guide). All of the participants engaged well with this activity, as it was relevant and fun. Session 3: Making choices This session focused on preparing young people to evaluate a learning resource (poster and cards) around raising awareness of their rights around decision-making. Worksheets were created for the young people to examine choices they made everyday, often and sometimes. Young people then rated how they felt about making these decisions using feeling faces. The worksheets asked young people about what they want for their future and whom they would talk to about this. Young people were also asked whether they attended any meetings to discuss their choices. The final worksheet asked young people what they thought about the poster and the cards. Feedback was positive. ‘It will be helpful to me in my future’ ‘It makes me happy to know I can make decisions about my life’ ‘I have learnt to make my own choices when I want to so the cards was helpful’ This activity was difficult to run with a mixed ability group and all young people required one-to-one support to consider and complete the worksheets. However, some participants made links to using this information for review meetings and meeting with Connexions Advisors, which suggests good comprehension. Session 4: Experiences of making choices Young people were invited to interview each other about how they make choices about their future. Two sets of example questions were provided and young people worked in pairs with a worker to think about questions or situations they could ask about. It was important to have a member of staff working with each pair to support discussions, unpick information and examples, and find out more about young people’s experiences. Some young people were able to identify relevant examples of their experience of participating (or not) decision-making. The young people developed their own questions, practised asking each other, and then interviewed one another on camera.

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It would have been helpful to have more time to discuss some of the issues raised during this session. It was important to allow time to support young people about situations discussed as part of this activity. It was particularly powerful to have young people talking to one another about their experiences and advising each other about what to do. Some issues raised in this session needed to be followed up to ensure the young person was supported in the future to make their own choices. Session 5: Messages for others working with young people around decision-making For the final session all the information young people had told us during the consultations was displayed on a new graffiti wall. Information was grouped together according to young people’s hopes and dreams for the future, something I want to tell you, and choices for the future. The group read through this information and talked about some of the issues raised. Young people were then asked to think about one message for professionals working with disabled young people to help them make choices about their future. This information was added to About Me guides. A final evaluation activity asked young people to rate all of the consultation activities. The majority of ratings were positive. While it was not clear how well participants recalled each session and therefore how reliable ratings were, observing young people’s participation in the sessions indicated that they were engaged and enjoyed participating. Additional Feedback from Disabled Children and Young People Feedback on the resources has been an ongoing process. It has been important that evaluation methods are accessible and inclusive and therefore, where possible, evaluation methods have been developed with young people. Between January and October 2008, 30 disabled children and young people where asked: ‘What do you think of the poster and cards?’ Young people could choose from a series of stickers with feeling faces, as well as provide any comments. Feedback was generally positive: 19 young people said that the resources are good; 5 said they were okay and 2 said they didn’t understand. The young people liked the visual aspects of the guides, which facilitated comprehension of the material. Some examples of what young people said are included below: ‘This book has taught me things I didn’t know. The pictures make it clearer. I like it and agree’. ‘Think the posters and cards are very easy to use for everyone. I also think the bullet points are good. This is a good poster’. ‘Like pictures. Good that there’s a picture of a disabled person on the front (in a wheelchair). Think that all disabled people should be treated as equals – liked the book for making that clear. ‘

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Feedback also indicated that the guides are appropriate and relevant to disabled young people. What was particularly encouraging was that young people felt that they would be able to use the guides to express their feelings and wishes to others as highlighted in the following comments from young people:

‘It tells you what people want to know. It tells you what to do’ ‘You can share your stories and opinions to people who care. Nice to know there are people that do.’ Learning from consultations

Disabled young people found the poster and learning cards useful but they often require more personalised support to tackle issues they face around decision-making;

Decision-making is a complex topic to consult on and often requires one-to-one support/activities to discuss and follow up issues that young people require additional support with;

Using a range of consultation methods was important to engage a range of young people with diverse needs.

Further observations and comments from the Research Unit1:

Each session was carefully planned and lessons learnt were documented following each session;

Planning was an ongoing process, which responded to the needs of young people. This helped to facilitate comprehension for a group of individuals with mixed abilities;

To successfully introduce the resources requires a number of intensive, one-to-one sessions run by skilled professionals who can employ creative, flexible, inclusive methods which recognise and respond to individuals needs;

Follow up sessions are recommended to empower individuals to take forward opportunities for exercising choices/decision making (During the consultations, some of the group highlighted immediate issues but they required support to take these forward; there were also members of the group who may require further assistance to comprehend how what they learnt can be applied to their lives.);

Activities allowed participants to engage in discussions around decision-making. Feedback following each session showed that the majority of participants enjoyed the sessions as they were fun but also taught them about decision-making. The final session consolidated messages from young people into a graffiti wall.

1 The Researcher conducting the evaluation attended sessions 2, 3 and 5

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Feedback from Professionals

25 external professionals were contacted to complete a brief survey or participate in a telephone interview. Following two rounds of follow up, an additional 7 professionals who attended the Improving Access to Advocacy Services workshop hosted by the All Decisions project in November 2008 were contacted to complete the brief questionnaire. Purposive sampling selected professionals who have had substantial contact with the All Decisions project or who had received a significant number of resources from the project. The sample was made up of Disabled Children’s Teams, voluntary organisations and advocates working with disabled children and young people in London. A total of 11 completed questionnaires were received. While this is a small sample and findings cannot be generalised, feedback was useful as it collected information on use and impact across the project’s major outputs. Specifically, the questionnaire measured awareness, use and impact of the following major outputs:

Disability Toolkit; My Life, My Decisions, My Choice Young People’s Learning

Resources; Professional guidance on involving disabled young people in decision-

making; Training programme for Integrated Disabled Children’s Service Teams; Survey Report of London’s Disabled Children’s Teams 2007.

Responses showed that all but one respondent was aware of the Disability Toolkit and that many respondents have accessed and applied learning from the Toolkit in their work. There was strong awareness of the learning resources for young people but less awareness of the accompanying professional guidance. One of the factors impacting on effective use of the young person’s guides is professionals’ knowledge and skills to introduce and facilitate young people’s use of these resources and subsequently increase their participation in decision making. It is not known why the professional guidance has not been as utilised as young people’s resources but any future marketing of these resources needs to highlight that the best outcomes result from using these resources together. There was also good awareness and use of the other major project outputs. Professionals were asked to comment on the strengths and limitations of the All Decisions project. A summary of feedback is included below:

The All Decisions project has been good at raising awareness around disabled young people’s participation in decision making.

“Involvement of young people has much higher profile in the team and with partner agencies.”

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There was some evidence that the project’s work has effectively changed professionals attitudes towards the participation of disabled young people in decision making.

“Working much more collaboratively with partner agencies re CIC review process and agreeing who is best placed to do the direct consultation with each child/young person.” There were some examples of Disabled Children’s Teams (DCTs)

implementing changes in practice but there are a number of challenges affecting DCTs ability to do this well, many of which fall outside the scope of the All Decision’s work, such as staff changes; lack of time; lack of management engagement; and, competing priorities pushing this issue down the organisation’s agenda.

External professionals viewed resources positively, particularly the

Disability Toolkit and training programme. Professionals would like this resource to be maintained.

There was some evidence of wider information sharing, indicating that

All Decision’s work is positively viewed within the sector. Advocates stated that they have recommended the project’s resources, such as the Disability Toolkit, to other professionals.

“I have widely promoted the range of resources within our network and at external events that we run for practitioners.” The general consensus was that this project should continue and that

DCTs need additional support and advice to effectively implement changes in practice

Other Feedback on Project Outputs Throughout the life of the project, feedback was gathered from external professionals who accessed the resources or attended events hosted by the All Decisions project. It was standard practice to collect feedback at events and through other avenues (e.g. website feedback) and this data has been collated to provide more in-depth feedback on specific outputs. Agenda for Change: Training programme for Integrated Disabled Children’s Service Teams. This one-day training course was designed specifically for multi-agency and integrated teams working with disabled children and young people. Training was facilitated by two practitioners from the Disability Advocacy Project and delivered to groups of 15 - 20 professionals. A training manual has been produced. The training programme was developed in response to research carried out with professionals working with disabled young people in London (see Survey Report of London’s Disabled Children’s Teams 2007). The

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training session is largely based on a four-stage approach to involving disabled children and young people in decision-making.

Training Aims:

Provide information about creative approaches, methods and resources to involving young people in meetings;

Practical and cost effective guidance to improve practice; Opportunities to try out a range of methods and approaches; Advice and guidance specific to the situations professionals face; Opportunity to develop a shared action plan to take forward learning.

A total of 69 participants received training. Participants came from a number of London local authorities, including Tower Hamlets and Camden. Feedback was collected from 50 participants who attended the training and a summary of findings is outlined below:

The majority of participants said that the aims and objectives of the training were met (76% met; 22% partially met). No respondents stated that the training did not meet its aims.

The majority of participants (86%) said that the training was relevant to their work with disabled children. A further 12% said the training was partially relevant while only one respondent said the training was not relevant.

Strengths of training programme:

expertise of facilitators relevance and accessibility of training content ability to target right mix of professionals ongoing feedback and adapting training as required participatory, interactive workshops.

Areas for improvement/further development:

The course covers a lot of content and may benefit from extending the length of the course; providing materials to participants before training is held; and, by holding follow up events to reinforce learning and explore and tackle barriers to implementing changes to professional practice.

Participants would like the training to extend into other areas of decision making and they would also like to have the opportunity to learn how to use multiple resources.

There is a need to engage management and decision makers in this process so that staff are supported in incorporating learning into practice.

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The development of the Disability Toolkit website came through recommendations from advocates and DCTs. The website is a resource to facilitate participation amongst disabled young people and was the preferred format for sharing information as it is interactive; free of charge and relatively easy to keep up to date. An Advisory Group was established to develop this resource made up of representatives from disability projects at The Children's Society and advise from the Council for Disabled Children. The Disability Toolkit was launched in February 2008 with a launch event attended by 17 London Local Authorities and 14 representatives from other voluntary sector organisations including NSPCC, Scope, Mencap, VOICE and NCH.

Within it’s first six-months the Disability Toolkit has proved to be a successful resource and achieved recognition from key stakeholders within the disability sector including DCSF and the Council for Disabled Children. The unique upload facility has attracted 27 new resources and 8 new practice examples from a range of organisations since it has been launched. Over 250 professionals have also signed up for the free quarterly e-update. So far, the website has had 5,791 visitors (4,958 are unique visitors) as at October 2008. 89% of visitors have visited once, 11% are returning for more information. The online database is the most popular area of the website.

The website is a recommended link on from many organisations working in disabled children’s rights including Hear by Right, National Autistic Society, Children’s Rights Officers and Advocates, Children’s Rights International Network, Voice, Scope, and National Youth Agency. The Disability Toolkit has been very successful in promoting The Children’s Society’s work in the disability pioneer area. It is a recommended resource by the DCSF and is referenced in Aiming High implementation materials to support disabled children’s participation. In addition the DCSF have recognised the need to effectively share practice around disabled children’s participation and acknowledged the role the Disability Toolkit could play.

Lessons Learnt

Internal staff are well placed to comment on the project’s work and while there can be concerns that staff may have difficulties assessing work objectively, it was decided that as responses were confidential and anonymous, this approach would still be useful to compliment other avenues of data collection. 10 staff from The Children’s Society was asked to provide feedback on the work and its impact. 5 completed questionnaires were received and findings are summarised here.

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Strengths of project

The provision of resources and facilitation of networking opportunities strengthened wider sector capacity. Respondents highlighted key ways this occurred, including through the Disability Toolkit, the delivery of the training programme and hosting sector events.

The skills, knowledge and commitment of staff working on the project. Profile-raising for the Disability Advocacy Project’s work as well as that

of The Children's Society within the disability sector. The project fostered a number of networks across London, which

informed resource development and practice. The appropriateness and impact of resources produced for disabled

young people.

What factors help or hinder the programme Enabling factors It is important to know what worked well but to take forward learning for future initiatives it is important to explore why certain elements of the project were successful and in particular, what factors helped or enabled this to occur. Enabling factors can relate to the project, stakeholders and a range of external factors. The key enabling factors included:

The relevance, need and appropriateness of resources produced by the project, in particular, the Disability Toolkit and the training programme helped to build credibility for the project.

The skills and commitment of staff, particularly those of the Senior Research and Development Worker who developed and delivered the project.

The development and structure of the project allowed it to evolve based on the needs of the sector.

Drawing on the resources, expertise and reputation of a national organisation helped the project to link in with existing networks; ensured that the project responded to current policies and practice; and, linked in with advocacy provision at the Disability Advocacy Project.

The project developed networks of key stakeholders from inception, which helped to raise its profile and disseminate resources across networks

Hindering factors Staff were asked to identify factors, which hindered success. The main hindering factors were identified as:

Short term funding: the project had a number of long-term aims and objectives but received three years funding (reflecting many programmes funding cycles), which did not reflect the level of

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investment and time required to successfully meet all the programme aims nor evaluate its long-term impact.

Working within a large national organisation can have disadvantages, with a feeling that procedures and practices can sometimes hold up progress.

The project’s original aims and objectives were ambitious and had to be scaled back and re-focussed in light of wider sector influences as well as the need to re-think the best way to impact on advocacy practice.

Lack of engagement from the funding body. One of the original aims of the project was to pilot new approaches to

advocacy, but there were a number of difficulties in achieving this aim, including operating in a competitive funding environment. It was felt that bringing on board another advocacy provider from the outset may have assisted taking this element of the work forward.

Limited capacity and funding to keep resources on the Disability Toolkit up to date.

Outcomes

Respondents were asked what the major outcomes of the project were. Feedback is summarised below:

Through a range of outputs, the project has provided capacity building opportunities for the sector.

The project has raised the profile of the Disability Advocacy Project and The Children's Society.

The project has developed networks and facilitated information sharing amongst disability providers.

Respondents were also asked to comment specifically on what they felt were the major outcomes for disabled young people. Respondents felt that key outcomes for disabled young people included:

Increased requests for advocacy for disabled young people. Increased knowledge and confidence around exercising their rights. Increased numbers of disabled young people receiving an advocacy

service.

Future recommendations

All respondents felt that the project’s work needs to continue. Key recommendations are included below:

To secure future funding and to explore ways to expand the project’s work

To ensure the approach to resource development is continued so that resources are informed by and respond to the needs of disabled young people and professionals working with this population.

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4 Conclusions and Recommendations

The project has achieved a considerable amount in a relatively short period of time, particularly given that the start date was delayed by 6 months. The project has been successful in working towards achieving its key aims and objectives. Where stated activities were delayed or changed, there was a clear rationale for these changes. Some final comments on methodology and assessing the ability of the project to meet its identified indicators:

The scoping exercise was undertaken but was not able to be taken forward due to limited funds as well as the complexities in gathering this data given differences in the way London authorities collect and report statistics on disabled children placed out of borough. There is an urgent need to have reliable statistics so that organisations working in this area know the scale of this issue and also to improve organisational capacity to measure the impact of their work.

The evaluation was a small scale, process level evaluation with limited capacity to assess the impact of the project’s work against its stated indicators of success. However, the data gathered indicates that the project was particularly successful at increasing capacity and building networks amongst key stakeholders in London.

The wide distribution of resources is encouraging and suggests that many disabled young people will have an opportunity to learn about and access the resources. However, there have been difficulties in assessing the impact of resources on disabled young people as the project was a research and development project which did not directly provide advocacy services to disabled young people (but Disability Advocacy Project does provide advocacy services and there was an increase in requests for their advocacy which may have resulted from the All Decisions project). Also, many of the stated indicators are longer-term outcomes, which sit outside the timeline of the project. The evaluation was process driven so it would be useful to do follow-up to determine any long-term impact on professional practice and changes in outcomes for disabled young people in London and if and how this has been replicated across other regions in England.

There is a need for the project and this need is ongoing. Ways to ensure that the project’s work is continued are outlined below:

Secure funding to keep the Disability Toolkit running and regularly updated - recent funding has been secured through DCSF.

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Continue to provide capacity building opportunities to the sector (this is also being considered as the project has developed their training programme with PACT to deliver nationally).

Continue to facilitate improved knowledge, skills and confidence amongst disabled young people to exercise their rights and build in mechanisms to capture outcomes for disabled young people.

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References

Abbott, D., Morris, J. and Ward, L. (2000) Disabled Children and Residential Schools: a Study of Local Authority Policy and Practice. Bristol: Norah Fry Research Centre Cavet, J. and Sloper, P. (2004). Participation of disabled children in individual decisions about their lives and in public decisions about service development. Children and Society 18(4): 278-290 Department of Health (1989) Children Act. London, Stationery Office Department of Health/Department for Education and Skills (2004). National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services: Disabled Children and Young People and those with Complex Health Needs. London, Department of Health Franklin, A. and Sloper, P. (2007) Participation of Disabled Children and Young People in decision-making relating to social care. Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, York Franklin, A. and Sloper, P. (2008) Supporting the participation of disabled children and young people in decision-making. Children and Society, 22(6): 3-15 HMSO (1998) The Human Rights Act 1998. HMSO: London Marchant, R. and Jones, R. (2003) Getting it Right: Involving Disabled Children in Assessment, Planning and Review Processes. Triangle: Brighton Morris, J. (1998) Still Missing? Volume 2: Disabled Children and the Children Act. London: Who Cares? Trust Morris, J. (1999) Hurtling into a Void: Transition to Adulthood for Disabled Young People with Complex Health and Support Needs. Brighton: Pavilion Publishing Oliver, C. (2003) Advocacy for Children and Young People: A Review. Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London. Oliver, C., Knight, A. and Chandappa, M. (2006) Advocacy for Looked After Children and Children in Need: Achievements and Challenges. Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London. Sinclair, R. and Franklin, A. (2000) Young People's Participation, Quality Protects Research Briefing, No.3. London: Department of Health Sinclair R. (2004) Participation in Practice: Making it Meaningful, Effective and Sustainable. Children and Society 18: 106 –118

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Stuart, M. and Baines, C. (2004) Progress on Safeguards for Children Living Away from Home. London: Joseph Rowntree Foundation The Children’s Society’s (2007) When Will We Be Heard? Advocacy Provision for Disabled Children and Young People in England. London, The Children’s Society. UK Children’s Commissioners’ (2008) UK Children’s Commissioners’ Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child. Geneva, United Nations. United Nations (2006) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, New York, United Nations

The views expressed in this report are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of The Children’s Society. © The Children’s Society 2009